


For What It's Worth

by beckydawolf



Category: Avengers (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Civil War (Marvel), F/F, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Pre Secret Invasion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-13
Updated: 2014-10-13
Packaged: 2018-02-21 01:03:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2449580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beckydawolf/pseuds/beckydawolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Like the death of Princess Diana or the attack on New York, everybody knows where they were when Captain America killed Iron Man.</i>
</p><p> </p><p>The responsibility for the SHRA falls to Carol.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For What It's Worth

Like the death of Princess Diana or the attack on New York, everybody knows where they were when Captain America killed Iron Man.

Carol Danvers doesn't just know: she was there. Although not close enough to see – she was engaged with fending off Luke Cage – Carol heard it. She heard the harsh grind of metal against metal and then another sound that Carol failed to comprehend.

Of course, she's seen the footage subsequently. The first time she watched it and her brain matched the image of Steve – her friend Steve – bringing down his shield on Tony Stark's neck with that second, horrible sound, she had to run to the bathroom and be violently ill. What's almost worse is the look of horror that breaks through the pure rage on Steve's face when he realizes what he's done. How, straddling the body of one of his oldest friends and surrounded by cameras, his shield clatters to the ground. Blank-faced and broken, he surrenders.

It doesn't matter how many times she sees it, Carol still weeps.

The anti-registration forces may have won the battle but, in that moment, they had lost the moral high ground and lost the war. They try to hang on but, without Steve, their rallying point is gone. Some of the more extreme elements still resist but many of them fought because they believed in him, because when Captain America refused to register it reaffirmed what was already in their hearts. Without him – without the pure hero they followed, not this bloodied murderer – they are adrift.

She speaks at the funeral, barely holding the tears back. It feels wrong, though – only half of the people who should be there are.

With Tony gone, those who supported registration need a leader. So does SHIELD. In the wake of the tragedy, they begin to look to her. At first it's just her opinion, sought alongside those of Richards and Pym, but then more and more heroes come to her for instruction – Tigra, Wonder Man, She-Hulk – all asking her what to do next. Finally, Maria Hill comes to her with a formal offer.

“Why me?” Carol asks.

“They respect you,” Hill explains. “You have leadership experience. Your military record will satisfy the politicians. Even if it wasn't a formal title, you were Stark's second-in-command in the Avengers. You're the obvious choice.”

She wishes she felt like the obvious choice. But she exchanges her halterneck for the SHIELD uniform, sweeps her hair up in to the neat bun she perfected in the Air Force, and does her duty.

Her first job is to deal with Captain America's followers. An amnesty isn't an option; the public's still too angry. Tony has become a martyr, the world saw him begging for his life under the brutal blows of Captain America. Some want revenge – there's already talk of the death penalty – but most just want the terrorists stopped, brought to justice.

She goes to Steve, where he's clapped in irons, and asks him to speak to them, get them to surrender willingly.

“No,” he answers. “I won't ask them to betray their principles.”

She tries to explain, make him understand just how many of them fought because he fought. Tells him about those who have already surrendered, those who were already wavering in their resolve.

“Just because I made a mistake,” he tells her, “Doesn't mean what we were fighting for was wrong.”

It forces her hand. She makes one last appeal, asks them to surrender but it does no good. She has to begin the arrests again.

Sharon Carter is detained on suspicion of aiding and abetting Captain America. It's enough to begin an internal investigation of anti-registration sympathizers within SHIELD. Carol's been in charge five minutes and she's already tearing the organization apart from the inside.

They arrest Spider-Man, the Human Torch and the Invisible Woman. Pete, Johnny and Sue – they'd been her friends. Reed begs her for clemency but they're too high profile, too important to brush under the carpet. The public has to see the turncoats held accountable for their actions.

 _This used to be so much easier_ , she thinks. _Is this how Tony felt? Making decisions about the fate of people he cared about? Because, no matter what they've done, God help me, I still care about them._

The kids are the worst. The 'Young Avengers' they call themselves. So full of hope, in that idealistic teenage way. She thought they'd be some of the first to hand themselves in but most of them really are true believers. Even the ones that aren't, they stay together out of loyalty to each other.

Once they're in custody, Cassie Lang makes an appointment to see her and very politely asks if she can see her friends. She so badly wants to say yes, to not cause any more pain. But that's not her job. So she turns her away with a platitude and a halfhearted apology.

Jessica Drew is waiting in her apartment that night.

The right thing to do would be arrest her on the spot. To attack her, overpower her, take her in. She doesn't. Exhausted, both mentally and physically, she's missed her. She just wants something for herself, something that doesn't involve ruining people's lives.

“Hi,” whispers Jess, sounding unsure of her welcome.

“You shouldn't be here,” Carol tells her.

“I know.”

“Please don't ask me to stop.” She doesn't know if she means her work or what she does next.

The first, tentative press of her lips to Jess's is all it takes to destroy any resolve she might have to arrest her now. When Jess kisses her back, she thinks she might never be able to. She sinks further in to Jess's embrace, warmth and wetness feeling more like salvation than she ever expected.

Jess is gone by morning, as if in the harsh daylight Carol might change her mind. Every time, Jess leaves but Carol never does.

As the numbers of unregistered heroes dwindles – either detained or working for the Fifty States Initiative as part of their punishment – Carol finds herself drawn more and more towards Steve. She wants to understand how he could do this, defy the will of his government, betray the people he had sworn to protect.

“It was the right thing to do,” is all he says.

She still doesn't understand.

“What about Tony?” she asks, quietly.

“He was in the wrong,” he repeats, just like he always does. The conviction from before his arrest is gone and now it just sounds hollow.

“You were angry,” she says.

“Yes.”

But that's obvious. He was angry at the Act. Angry at the government, angry at the world, angry at-

“You were angry at him,” she adds.

He smiles at her bitterly.

“You were angry at him, why?” Carol asks. “He was doing the same as you – doing what he thought was best.”

“Wasn't he just,” Steve spits.

“Are you angry with me? At Jan? Or at Natasha?” He doesn't answer. “Not like you were at Tony. Why is what he did so much wor- _Oh._ ” She sees the pain in his eyes. “Because it was Tony. Oh, Steve. Did he know?”

For the first time, since Tony's death, she sees him cry.

That night, she clings closer to Jess. Every kiss is punctuated by a murmur of “I forgive you,” “I love you,” or “I'm sorry,” against Jess's skin.

Jess still leaves before dawn.

Now that she knows how much Steve is suffering, Carol wishes she could save him from the trial but it's too important a public symbol and there's too much political will in its favor for her to intervene. That doesn't stop her from personally making sure that – even in reinforced chains – he looks like Captain America, hair neatly combed, boots polished, uniform spotless, so no one can forget the hero he was before he became a villain.

He's shot on the steps of the courthouse and dies on the way to hospital.

Her attempts to understand what went wrong – how someone got a gun near, why he was so exposed, where her agents were – temporarily keep her from her grief. When she finally gets home, Jess just holds her as she sobs against her chest, stroking her hair, letting her cry.

Carol's lost another friend to this mess. She doesn't want to do it any more, be the one everyone looks to for leadership but there's no one else. Not now.

So she carries on, stays strong, fights the good fight, does what needs to be done but her heart just isn't in it any more.

Her one light in the darkness, the only real reason she keeps on going, is Jess. Carol knows she'll be there at the end of her day, ready to welcome her in to her arms. Some days, she thinks Jess might be a ghost or a dream, only appearing to her in darkness. She keeps an eye on the intell and – right there – there's Jess saving people even without a license. Carol even goes so far as to quash a report that Spider-Woman had been seen on a regular basis in her neighborhood. She tells herself it's to protect herself but that's a lie; she'd do anything to protect Jess.

When Jess reveals herself as Queen Veranke on national television, Carol's heart shatters.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I am so sorry. 
> 
> This arose from a post crossing my dash that said "It's been 7 years, we've all see the stories where Steve dies and Tony has to deal with it. Where are all the stories where Steve kills Tony?" or words to that affect (I've been trying to find it, to no avail). My first thought was "Duh, Carol would be in charge!"
> 
> It wasn't meant to get that dark.


End file.
